My little Pavarotti
This picture has been hanged on my bedroom wall for already 9 years..
It was 1998 when a couple of journalists friend of mine took me with them to interview Pavarotti in his glorious suite in Hotel Vesuvio in Naples.
The place itself was inspiring: Pavarotti lodged in the same suite where the great tenor Enrico Caruso died in 1921.
The suite had many rooms, included an office where a black haired secretary was working very hard taking orders from Nicoletta Mantovani..
The first thing that surprised me was finding in the corridor, just in front of the suite door, an entire huge Parma ham ready to be sliced….
We had the interview in the sitting room around a large table, where Pavarotti was waiting for us.
In this room there were two big refrigerators, one next to the other, and I was told that one of them was just used for sparkling water!!
Pavarotti was a strong fizzy water drinker, and even on stage he used to hide water everywhere…for that reason one of his favorite role was Nemorino in Donizetti’s Elisir d’amore, because the character is supposed to drink all the time a love potion..
Pavarotti looked tired but he was extremely kind and many times during the interview invited me to taste one of the mini Neapolitan pastries that where on the table saying: “Signorina, s’accomodi!”
Those pastries where little indeed but he was allowed to eat just the eight part of each, so he said.
The interview touched many themes, but the one I remember was about the Verdi’s Otello he had recently recorded. He pointed out that one of the thing that makes Otello so obsessed by jealousy is the considerable age difference between him and Desdemona. This particular aspect so evident in Shakespeare is quite hidden in Verdi and just comes out in a brief line during the quartet of the 2nd act.
This observation showed a kind of autobiographic sensitivity that made this big man look very fragile to my eyes.
Nicoletta was coming back and forward in the sitting room in a very elegant dress, but barefooted and with an ugly posture.
Pavarotti confessed that they used to sing love duet (mainly from Tosca) together in their privacy, and to the question if she had a beautiful voice he answered with an enthusiastic exclamation that I had never heard before: MADONDIO!!!
This extraordinary man died one week ago.
I’m really proud of Italian Government for tributing him such a magnificent state funeral, the entire function was broadcasted in real time by Rai 1, top politician and TV stars were there and our Premier Romano Prodi gave a beautiful speech.
But the most sincere sign came from the crowd outside the church, thousands of unknown people that wanted to surround him for the last time with their love and admiration.
He really deserved all this.
In the ’90 when I was telling my nationality to foreigners their most frequent answer was : Ah, Pavarotti!
That was because he was a symbol of our country, just like the Coliseum, and he had that power not being a sex symbol, that nowadays seems the only way to succeed, but just thank to his generous soul expressed trough a wonderful and unique instrument, that he always considered with extreme humility a gift from heaven.
Grateful to God for his gift he wanted to use it to help other people like unfortunate war children or even young music talent by giving them free singing lessons.
I was in the dressing rooms in Rome’s Opera Theatre just before he went on stage to sing the centennial of Tosca and I saw him holding somebody’s hand and saying:” Pray for me!”
Wasn’t he an humble man?
Thank to the recordings his art will last forever, but forever we’ve lost his big and generous heart.
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